MAAC Weekly Roundup: Feb. 2

The final month of MAAC play begins and Monmouth has done something no other team in the country has yet to do: win at Siena.

The Times Union Center will host the MAAC tournament coming up in just over a month and now that the Hawks have swept the Saints, they will hope to not see the home team again until championship night.

Here are some of the numbers that made the last week of conference play:

3 – That’s the number of games under .500 the Canisius Golden Griffins are. It is their first time the Griffs are three games under .500 in the Jim Baron era.

5 – The number of games the Rider Broncs lost to open their MAAC Schedule. Since January 14, the Broncs have won five of their last six games, improving to 5-6 in conference play as they take on 5-5 Manhattan at Draddy Gymnasium Tuesday night.

12 – The number of three-pointers Quinnipiac made on Saturday against Niagara. One of the reasons the Bobcats had a paltry 13 offensive rebounds was because they were busy draining 70% of their three-pointers. It was the most long balls Quinnipiac made since they made 14 last season against Niagara. It’s only the fourth game this season where the Bobcats have made better than 40% of their field goals.

479 – The total number of points Monmouth junior Justin Robinson has compiled this season. Entering Monday night he had already surpassed his total from last season (441) by two points and he continued to obliterate his career-high by tallying a career-high 36 at Siena.

“Our kids are growing up. We’re the veterans now. Today’s gameplan was just straight go out and hoop, let the ball go every chance you get. Every time we come here we play tight, they take the lead and then we have to dig out of a hole. We didn’t do it enough today. We were supposed to jack up shots just to get the game going the way we wanted.” – Monmouth head coach King Rice on their win at Quinnipiac, the first for the Hawks program since 2006

“Since I’ve been here at Quinnipiac we’ve had some really good teams over the years. This is the first time we’ve ever had a losing streak like this in nine years.” – Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore on their 66-51 loss to Monmouth

“I’m not blaming anybody, but their backcourt outplayed our backcourt tonight very badly” – Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos after the Saints’ 93-87 loss to Monmouth

“I’ve been playing Manhattan for four years now, and the last three years they always sent double teams, so I told [my teammates] just be ready to shoot. It doesn’t matter if I score zero points. I’m happy when we win.” – Iona senior A.J. English on his four point performance in the Gaels win over rival Manhattan

“We both played, now it’s the chess match. Let me make adjustments, let’s see what adjustments Tim and Iona make, let’s see how we play the second time. They might win that one, but you just keep going. It’s all about growing. It’s all about our young players.” – Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello on the ever-developing rivalry with Iona.

“We have a lot of confidence from these last three games. I think we’re ready for the challenge of the next three away.” – Rider junior Kahlil Thomas after their 79-68 win over Canisius

“He’s an underrated coach because people think it’s just ‘shoot shoot shoot score score score’ but he really tries to perfect the defensive end too. Tonight he showed it.” – A.J. English on Iona head coach Tim Cluess as the Gaels regained their defensive mentality in limiting Manhattan to 56 points Friday night.

“It’s four games in a row now where we haven’t shown up in the first half. It’s getting to be very disappointing that we’re not showing up to start games. We need to figure it out quick.” – Saint Peter’s head coach John Dunne on their 75-67 loss to Iona on Monday night

Ryan Restivo wrote the America East conference preview for the 2015-16 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. He covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the America East conference among others for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.